I Have a Plan
Yuri: He steps out of the jeep and closes the door behind him, quickly heading up the steps towards the Lake Elsinore Historical Museum. He looks really sleepy, his skin looking dark under his eyes. For spent almost the entire Sunday at the library trying to figure out how curses work. Although he wasn't able to actually research the subject he did read several fictional stories where one or more people were cursed and they were forced to figure out ways to lift their curse in those stories. The old lady here might be able to help us lift Mandy's curse. He looks at Lucas. This is crucial for my plan to work. He looks back towards the museum. I know I'm keeping you in the dark about everything but just bear with me... AM Omniance: Lucas: He closes the door and walks around the jeep, Well, since you're not really telling me anything I guess I'll just have to... Trust you. It's both our asses if you screw this up. AM Arbi: Yuri: He glances back at his brother. Have I ever let you down? He walks up to the frontdoor and steps inside. The familiar frontdesk comes into, the old lady standing behind it like before. Margaret: She just watches the two boys step inside, a welcoming smile on her face but as Lucas enters and the door closes behind him the room suddenly becomes too dark to see until the candles around them light up the now aged, cobweb filled mysterious museum they remember visiting before. I must admit I'm little surprised...instead of banishing the demon he was sealed inside you. What agony he must be going through. I pray he's never released... AM Arbi: Margaret: For your own sake... AM Omniance: Lucas: He looks around slightly as the lights dim and the place becomes recognizably strange. Our grandmother was too proud to expel him. He looks to the elderly woman. So we're stuck with it. Possibly forever. AM | Edited 1:22:30 AM Arbi: Margaret: She still has the depressing tone to her voice, making it so she almost sounded sad hearing that the demon was in agony. Why have you returned? I have no power to offer you... She walks to the side of the counter, sliding her finger along the old desk behind her. But if it is knowledge you seek... Yuri: He steps forward. Yes, please! A girl we know has a demon's curse on her. I need to find out how to remove it. Margaret: She goes quiet. AM | Edited 1:22:10 AM Omniance: Lucas: We think the curse is potent enough to have caused a... String of events really, this passed weekend, that nearly killed us, and a few others. AM Arbi: Margaret: Follow me... She turns around and heads into the next room. AM Arbi: Yuri: He nods and follows her. AM Omniance: Lucas: He pauses for a moment, before following after his brother. He seems hesitant about everything that's happening, as he's really just unsure of what's happening. AM | Edited 1:34:53 AM Arbi: Margaret: She stops just as they're about to enter with her into the artifact filled hallway, turning around towards them and holding her hand up to stop them as well. Know this before you continue. I cannot ensure the safety of your souls if you choose to save this girl. This is no voodoo curse but one of the devil! Her eyes widen for a few seconds before calms down and her voice becomes sad again. If you try to save her from the destiny she has chosen...she may pull you with her. She looks at them for a moment before turning around and entering the hallway. AM Omniance: Lucas: ...Pull us... How? He looks at Yuri and then back to the woman. AM Arbi: Yuri: He quietly gulps and watches her walk away, having read something like this in one of the stories at the library. It means she's drowning and...if we try to save her instead of pulling her out, she'll pull us in and we'll drown with her. He sighs and follows the old woman. AM Omniance: Lucas: He whispers, Drowning? It's more like she's a walking time bomb. AM Arbi: Margaret: She moves quickly through the hallway until she reaches a stand with a brown book, it's in a different location than the last place they stood. She looks the cover of the book over before leaning down and blowing the dust off the cover. The wording on the book seems to glow red and after a moment makes an unlocking sound. I hope you have taken my warning to heart. She opens the book somewhere towards the back pages. The left page has a large picture of several demons pulling a woman into a burning hole in the ground. AM Omniance: Lucas: He just sighs very slowly, but otherwise remains silent. AM Arbi: Margaret: After reading she changes the page, it's full of more writing they are unable to understand. The right page has a picture of the woman from before pushing a man into the burning pit. She flips the page again. Here we are...removing a demon's curse. She starts reading. This easy way, divine intervention. No... No one can rely on a miracle, not anymore. We're looking for the hard way... She keeps reading. AM Omniance: Lucas: His eyes start to wander around the dark interior as he lazy crosses his arms over his chest. He mutters, mostly to himself. We should just skip to the part where someone gets possessed and we have to ask the Prince for even more help. AM Arbi: Yuri: He nudges Lucas, not wanting the old lady to get mad at them. AM Arbi: Margaret: She continues reading, not looking like she's paying attention to either of them. After a minute she speaks again. This curse will require a week's time to remove. Listen because I do not want to repeat myself. AM Omniance: Lucas: He stands ready, looking like he's paying attention and listening intently, as he wants to make sure this works. AM Arbi: Margaret: Seven stones, any will do. Find a witch to enchant one stone each day, none can be enchanted the same. Fire among water but never with fire. Once enchanted you must kill an animal with stone in hand, any creature will do but never the same. The bloody stone must be charged again by a second witch with the very same enchant. Everyday do this until the very last. On the seventh night you must draw a bath of water and salt. No clothes. No worldy possessions; only the body of the cursed must enter this water. One by one the red weapons will be dropped. Now speak the demon's name, empower this girl. She goes quiet for a moment. If you've done everything correctly...she will be clean once more. AM Omniance: Lucas: He starts muttering to himself to make sure he remembers. Seven stones, each with a unique... Elemental enchantment... Sacrifice seven unique animals for each stone that's enchanted... Then a second witch is needed to enchant it with the same element, each day for seven days. On the night of the final day she has to take a salt water bath, completely naked. He raises an eyebrow and tilts his head slightly. Then we drop the stones into the bath one at a time and then speak the name to empower her and free her of the curse. He takes a deep breath. So we need seven stones, seven animals, another witch, the name of the demon that's cursed her, and salt. He shakes his head and shrugs slightly. We only know one witch and we have no idea who the demon is that's cursed Mandy Lane. AM | Edited 2:42:33 AM Arbi: Margaret: Your friend will never find peace without the demon's name and the curse will remain. She closes the book. A demon's curse is very...personal. She was touched by him and as you know...No demon can cross over into this world without help from man. Seek out the summoner, they will know his name. AM Omniance: Lucas: So we need to find out the summoner, then we need to get the name out of him. Mandy Lane probably knows who the summoner is. So we have to convince her to not kill us. Then convince her to let us help her, then convince the summoner to give us the name of a demon he summoned, possibly to curse Mandy Lane in the first place... This... He just glares at his brother. Not like we have a choice, so no sense in complaining. He looks at the elderly woman. Thanks for the information... It... Might save a life. Or a few lives. AM Arbi: Yuri: He nods. Thank you. I don't know where we'd be without you. He sighs out a little, relived. AM | Edited 2:47:29 AM Arbi: Margaret: She smiles and closes her eyes, lowering her head. Should you need my help again I'm always here, but... Only if you need me. AM Omniance: Lucas: He takes a deep breath. Alright. Let's get going we have... A lot... A lot to do. AM Arbi: Yuri: Yeah, I hope Leena knows another witch... He turns around and leaves with his brother. AM Omniance: After a twenty minute drive to Leena's, and another thirty minutes of explaining while walking around the ranch, they're now standing around the barn way behind Leena's house. It's empty of animals, save for Lucifer who is in the corner laying down as a black horse. AM | Edited 2:56:08 AM Omniance: Leena: Are you fucking insane? She's been extremely angry since the words "help" and "Mandy Lane" were together in the same sentence and didn't include the words "us", "kill", and "her". Why in the holy hell would I ever do that? Why are you talking to her? Why are you helping her? Why are you thinking about her? I can't believe you two are sticking your neck out for her. This is one of those things that could cause a fifty foot living storm of death to try and horribly murder you and send you to hell for all eternity -Oh know wait, that already happened. TWO DAYS AGO! THAT HAPPENED YURI! AM Arbi: Yuri: He raises his hands, trying to calm her down. I know! I know! I was there...but...just...listen to me for a second. I...have a plan... AM | Edited 2:59:40 AM Omniance: Leena: Oh that just makes everything better. The guy who can barely scrape by in Algebra A has a plan. AM Arbi: Yuri: This needs to happen, Leena. Isaac can't be trusted with those powers. He almost killed me and my brother...I'm never letting that happen again. AM Arbi: Yuri: If we follow my plan to the letter, Isaac will have his powers taken away, Mandy won't be cursed anymore and we won't owe the Prince a favor. Everyone wins. AM Omniance: Leena: Did you forget the part where Lucas almost lit him on fire! Lucas: He's in doorway, leaning up against the frame listening to them. He talks at the same time Yuri does when he says "If we follow my plan to the letter." I didn't almost burn him! I had a good... Five feet safe zone on either side of him! Leena: You breath fire that's hot enough to melt cars. Do you even know what convection is?! Lucas: It's like, then the toaster gets too hot and burns the- Leena: NO! YOU DON'T BECAUSE YOU'RE BOTH IDIOTS! She looks to at Yuri. After a moment she just shakes her head in disbelief at what she's hearing and having to discuss with them. And who are you to decide who keeps and loses powers all of the sudden. You two get some terrifying demon strapped to you and suddenly you're the heroes. She just shakes her head and looks away from them. I don't see the two of you giving up shit. She points at Lucas. He tried to quit smoking when Odie was taking those therapy sessions and he ended up incinerated five cars! Lucas: It was four cars... Leena: YOU COULD'VE BURNED DOWN OUR FUCKING SCHOOL! She lowers her hand. And what about you? You're invisible, poking around the girl's locker room or something. The absolutely insane level of creepy that your powers grant you doesn't exactly make you a trustworthy judge of who gets to do what and keep what. AM Arbi: Yuri: I don't go around threatening to kill people like he did when we were on the ground shaking because he electricuted us! AM Omniance: Leena: His best friend just died, and one of you nearly burned him to death. Lucas: The point is, Leena, even though all of that shit went down, we, Yuri and I, were the only two in that shit storm that kept a level head. Isaac didn't. Leena: She looks to the side. Lucas: Mandy Lane was a walking disaster. She was a train-wreck that entire weekend, and Isaac flipped out and could've killed us. Not only that we saved your asses like... Four times- Leena: Alright! I get it- Lucas: So why aren't helping us!? This could help Isaac, Mandy, you, us... AM Arbi: Yuri: We can't do this without you, Leena... We need your help. AM Omniance: Leena: I know you need my help. She looks down, her eyes darting back and forth. Alright. Let's get a few things out in the open here. She looks up at them. One. The fact that you're possessed by a demon terrifies me to no end, and has since I found out. Two. I cannot stand that I've had to deal with all these powers and this... Underworld of monsters for years, and then you two show up and suddenly you're ever-resourceful fearless experts on everything. You never ask what I think, you just tell me what we should do. I get that I'm no an expert on demons, and I'm not fearless, but you don't even include me in these terrible fucking ideas you two have. Three. I don't like Mandy Lane, especially now more than ever. For all I know she's a fucking succubus or something and you two are trying to help her because you're thinking with your dicks instead of your heads. Four if you two get an idea to pull something like this with me and take away my powers I will annihilate you. I may not be fearless but I can definitely kick the shit out of you two. At the same time. Got it? AM Arbi: Yuri: Understood. He looks over at Lucas to see what he says. AM Omniance: Lucas: We're not used to having friends and stuff... So we're not used to... External input... And umm... I don't even like Mandy Lane anymore she's going out with Isaac, and she's some kind of terrifying demon queen or something on top of that. That's... Not something I like in a girl. AM Arbi: Yuri: You sure? You always kind of sounded like you were into that whole dominatrix thing. AM | Edited 3:39:22 AM Omniance: Lucas: He looks down puts his hand to his forehead and sighs slowly, wisps of smoke rising around his head. I do not like that... Stuff. Leena: You know sometimes when I'm away from you two I wonder to myself, "Why doesn't either of them have a girlfriend?" and then I talk to you and just get these strings of reminders. Lucas: I don't like that stuff! He looks at Leena. AM | Edited 3:43:28 AM Arbi: Yuri: He shakes his head, not wanting to get into any of that. If you're gonna help us first thing's first. We can't even start the first day without a second witch. Do you know any...other...witches? AM Omniance: Leena: My mom, but I don't think she's a witch anymore, I don't want her knowing that I'm a witch, and I'm not going to tell her my best friends are all, like all of them, apparently, are possessed by demons. AM Arbi: Yuri: What about the rest of your family? AM | Edited 3:46:40 AM Omniance: Leena: My dad, definitely not, and I wouldn't trust my brother with any information about anything. Lucas: Grandma... Something? Leena: My Nan lives in Dakoda, which may as well be in space. She's also like a hundred years old. She shrugs. You two know that detective. Ask him. I'm not exactly starting a coven here. Lucas: Could we do that? He looks at Yuri. AM Arbi: Yuri: Doc doesn't exactly like it when we try to pry into his other cases...but maybe he's in a good mood today? AM Omniance: Lucas: Well we don't... Have... Any other choices, unless we're going to... You know, just ask the Prince. Might as well since we've basically been branded for slavery anyway. AM Arbi: Yuri: I'm not asking him anymore favors. He heads out of the barn. Let's go before it gets too late...